Gregor and the Subtle Prophecy
by Yma3591
Summary: The warrior returns this time in order to save the Underland from the drinkers. The new Prophecy of Dark has started! And for the ever curious reader, yes there is Gluxa. Drinkers are the mosquitos by the way...
1. Prologue

Yma3591 Presents:

Gregor and the Subtle Prophecy

Completely Fan-Made, I do not own anything in this series; this is just a fan-made story…

PROLOGUE

_ In the deep, vast darkness of the Plain of Tartarus, something rustled, clawed at the ground, and moved._

_ "I wasn't the son of Achilles for nothing." A soft voice whispered. It had not been strong enough to rise for months, its body was a ragged heap of useless, bloody flesh, and yet it had survived. It had struggled, clawing for anything: edible small bugs, rations from the soldiers that died-all to survive. Now, it was strong enough to start moving. It lifted itself from the floor and started moving…_


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Gregor was on his bed, still in New York City. His grandma had gotten better and already went to Virginia by herself. His parents had decided to go to Virginia today, so here he was, daydreaming on his bed, waiting for his last few moments thinking of the Underlanders. Just thinking of them made him tear up. He just couldn't stop thinking about them. At school, all he could think about was Luxa, Hazard, Howard, Vikus, Ripred, Temp, and the others. His grades became low, he became depressed, and he was called a freak at school. Not to mention that he wasn't a famous warrior anymore. He was just some low life weirdo hanging around at school.

"Regalia." Gregor muttered. It all seemed like a dream now. He remembered the good times when he was actually happy knowing he was doing something in his life. Fighting was something he knew how to do. It was as if he lived for it as a rager. Thinking of it made him think of Ripred, he missed that rager. He even missed the taunting. At least he had Boots. The "Princess" as the crawlers called her. He was thinking of the crawlers when he heard, "Gregor!"

Boots was calling him. Just last month, when he left the Underland, Boots had finally learned his name. She didn't call him "Ge-go" or "Gre-go" like she did before. He went over to Boots. "Gregor cry?" asked Boots noticing his tears. "Yes, I miss the Underlanders a lot." He replied.

"Pincess?" She was asking about Nike. Nike was the princess of the bats and Boots was a princess among the crawlers. Every time she met Nike, they would share a joke.

"Greetings, Princess," Nike would say. "Greetings, Pincess," Boots would say back and they would both laugh. They never got tired of the joke.

"Not now Boots, we aren't seeing her again." Gregor said with tears in his eyes. It was uncontrollable, he just had to see the Underlanders but he could not, and his parents had decided to go to Virginia. "Gregor need hug," Boots said, hugging him. "Gregor is sad."

"Boots, I am going to my bed, will you go and play with Lizzie?" he said. "Okay." Boots replied leaving. Gregor went back to his bed, wondered some more, and went to sleep without knowing it.

"Honey! I'm home!" a voice woke him up. It was his mother. "How did I fall a sleep," Gregor wondered. "I didn't even realize it." His mother came into his room. "Oh Gregor, were you thinking of the Underlanders again? Don't feel sad, you'll get over it." She tried to reassure him but he just couldn't stop thinking of them.

"Mom, it's just that, there were people I loved there, and I had lots of friends. For once, I was not considered a freak like I was a school." Gregor said.

"How about you go to Mrs. Cormaci and have her help you out." She said.

"I will, but can I still visit the Underland?" He asked.

"Honey, you know that we are going to Virginia, you know how we can't afford that you go." She replied. Gregor was tired of hearing her say that. He felt that his heart was literally torn apart. He absolutely needed to see Luxa, to hold her once again, but he knew that would never happen. "How about a miracle, a prophecy in another room," he though. "Yeah right, like Sandwich would actually take the trouble of making another prophecy room. Who would do that when they got a room to write on?"

"Bye." Gregor said, leaving. He shut the door and knocked on Mrs. Cormaci's apartment room.

"Why it's Gregor, how nice to see you!" Mrs. Cormaci exclaimed. Then, she saw his face. "You still miss them don't you, dear?"

"Yeah, I do." Gregor replied sadly. It was torture to even endure one day now.

"Why don't you come in and we can have some tea, Gregor" She asked. "Would you like me to read your tarot?" She was always asking if he wanted his future read. Gregor looked at her and though, "Why not? You don't have anything to lose. You pretty much lost everything and gave up everything. Your life won't even be changed by a simple reading. Go ahead. There's no harm."

"Sure Mrs. Cormaci. With that, she let him enter and gave him a cup of tea while they sat down. Mrs. Cormaci brought out a deck of cards she kept in her pocket.

"All right Gregor, pick a card, any card." She said, fanning out the deck before him. He took one and gave it to her.

"This is not a playing deck of cards." Gregor said suddenly. All his life, he thought her readings required a simple deck of playing cards but this was different. The deck was full of cards with signs and pictures on it. There were a few numbers but mostly there were pictures.

"Of course not, this is a tarot card deck, not the average playing card deck," She replied. "Let's see, hmm," she had a really far away look in her eyes. "Well, Gregor, you seem to have good luck. It says that something good happens to you but this is really distinct. The sign is so vague that I could hardly understand what it meant at first."

"Good luck, yeah right," Gregor thought. "I've been having the worst luck ever and the prediction that I will get good luck." Mrs. Cormaci put the cards back in her pocket and asked, "Do you want something to eat?"

"No thank you, I already ate." He lied. He just didn't have the appetite anymore. As each day passed, he missed the Underland more and more. "Luxa, why don't you come up?" he thought painfully. Of course she couldn't, the council wouldn't let her. A voice startled him from his thoughts, "Would you like to help me cook dinner, Gregor" Mrs. Cormaci asked. "Sure." He replied still thinking about Luxa. As he chopped vegetables, Gregor felt something around him. It wasn't harmful and it sure wasn't an Underland creature. He shook the feeling off. Gregor finished chopping the vegetables and returned to his apartment room with a handful of money. He unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"Gregor play with Boots?" Boots ran up to him.

"Sure, I will play with you." Gregor said, quickly perking up. He didn't want Boots to see him so sad again. They started playing with her dolls. As he was playing with Boots, Gregor got the same feeling he got at Mrs. Cormaci's. He slowly stopped playing and started looking around.

"Gregor looking for something?" Boots asked.

"Yes. Boots, do you see anything?" Gregor asked.

"No." She replied. Boots started running around playing I Spy.

"I spy something white with whiskers!" Boots yelled cheerfully.

"Very nice Boots, something white with whiskers," Said Gregor, picking her up. "Bed time." As he walked to Boots room, what she said when she was playing I Spy struck him.

"What did Boots say again? Something like 'I spy with my little eyes something white and it has whiskers.' was what she said I think. Oh no, a nibbler." Gregor thought. He looked behind him and there it was, standing there looking at him.

"What do you want little fellow?" Gregor asked. The mouse did nothing but a cockroach suddenly joined it, then a rat. They all started pulling at his leg. Gregor put Boots on the floor and followed them. They brought him to the laundry room and suddenly, a letter flew out of the laundry air duct. Gregor took a look at it and immediately knew who it was from. It was from the Underlanders.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Gregor had never been happier in his life. He snatched the letter and started reading:

_Dear Gregor,_

_ It seems that we have found another prophecy when we looked back at your broken sword. It seems that Sandwich had another surprise waiting in that sword, waiting until the prophecy came true. Please make haste. My granddaughter wishes you back dearly._

_With best of wishes,_

_Vikus_

"Vikus has recovered a lot, he must have mastered the use of his left hand" thought Gregor. "I really have to get there fast."

"Gregor! Get your bags and come out, we're leaving!" Gregor's mom shouted. At that moment, the ground shook. Gregor looked at the cockroach and saw that it was huddling beneath a small table.

"Gee I wonder what it's doing down there, it's just a small shake. Luxa always said they were a bit cowardly…"Gregor thought. "Wait… that was before the-OH NO!"

"EARTHQUAKE!" Gregor shouted. He started running but at that moment, the ground gave away and he had the sensation of falling and falling. Then, something fell on him and he blacked out…

"_Ares!" Gregor called, feeling the floor getting nearer and nearer. He was falling full speed, plunging down to his death and the bat was not there. Why was he not there? _

"_Because he's dead." Gregor thought with guilt. Sadly, he plummeted to the bottom._

"Gregor please wake up!" A familiar voice sobbed.

"I'm sorry cousin, but this time, I think the warrior is done for sure." Another voice said.

Then, Gregor opened his eyes to the most beautiful face he had seen.

Luxa.

"You're alive! We all thought that you didn't have light anymore!" Luxa cried, burying her face into him. Even though he felt the pain, his heart felt lighter than what he hadn't felt for days. He was home at last. Where he belonged.

"Wha-what happened?" He managed to stammer out.

"A big metal cube fell on you as you were falling down. Luckily, Luxa had felt the earthquake and had a feeling you were in trouble, so she took Aurora down here to rescue you." Howards faced popped in.

No wonder he felt so much pain. And then, Gregor remembered his family.

"My family!" He croaked out. Sitting up immediately, only to be pushed back gently by Luxa's hand.

"They are alive, Gregor. Although since they were on the upper floor, they were hurt more except Boots and Lizzie, your parents tried to protect them with aid of the crawlers." Luxa said reassuringly. The color had gone back to her already pale face and she already looked better knowing that he was alive.

"You need to sleep more. Here, take this." Howard poured some pain killing medicine into his mouth. Slowly, Gregor's vision disappeared into the pitch-black darkness of his subconscious…

_ The creature flapped its wings. Although tattered and frayed, they still worked a bit and would be sufficient for its journey. The creature smiled in a creepy way and flew up above the river, stopping occasionally to catch a fish. _

"_I must get to Regalia, I must." The creature thought. As sure as the pitch-black fur on its body, the creature had plans for the warrior there. The creature smiled again, pleased that it managed to survive, and pleased about the plans. It started to think about its history, of its parents, Achilles. Achilles had survived so many battles, a rare one in their kind. He had almost been invincible, until he got hit by an arrow in the wing…_

"One more bandage and he is finished." Gregor woke up to the sound of Howard's voice. He stared at his body and gasped. He had so many broken ribs and about thirteen bandages.

"I know. You had a pretty bad injury there. You can make it, as you have always had." Muttered Howard, as he administered the final bandage.

"This is almost as bad as the damage from the Bane." Gregor mumbled, still a bit dazed from the pain killer.

"Oh no! The fallen so called 'warrior' is being babied again in the infirmary. Oh boo-hoo! That's so very sad and yet you can talk and move." Ripred said sarcastically, moving towards him. Gosh, that rager could sure get on his nerves, but today, he was too happy to care.

"Ripred! I'm so glad to see you!" Gregor exclaimed sitting up.

"Please Gregor, not so fast shall we?" Howard said, checking for signs of internal damage. "Right." Gregor said. "You can get up now; I think you're fully healed. You have been here for about two weeks now." "Two weeks! And Vikus told me to get here with haste!" Gregor exclaimed, pushing over his bed cover. He shoved on his shoes and asked where Vikus was. "In the council's room." Came Hazard walking in, "They sent me to check if you were fit enough to go." Gregor started towards the council.

When he arrived, Vikus came up to him gravely, "We found another prophecy in the inside of your broken sword, I'm afraid it calls for the warrior, yet again."

"No way! I am not going to fight again! It was never the solution for anything!" Gregor shouted furiously although in his heart, he knew that he was going to fight someday.

"It has to be done. I admit that I do not like you being the 'warrior' either, but there's no choice. The prophecy calls for you again."

"Show me the prophecy." Vikus took out a tightly wrapped piece of paper. Gregor took it and read:

_The Prophecy of Dark_

_Has the monster's blood spilled?_

_Is the warrior's bond killed?_

_Is there light or is there dark?_

_The warrior must embark._

_A deadly journey up ahead_

_Many will be quickly be dead_

_All the darkness closing all around._

_Terror striking above and below ground._

_The drinkers shall arise_

_Whom Overlanders despise_

_The end of all beginning_

_Is the world darkening?_

_Fifteen must put an end to this_

_The finished warrior needed in this dark abyss_

_Needing 2 friends that find the light in his life_

_With fliers, killers, and gnawers to help through this strife_

_United, the worlds will rise._


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Gregor was led up to his sleeping quarters; they had spent a long time figuring out the prophecy all in vain. He had already eaten and bathed so two guards led him to his room. His bedroom was small, but comfortable. There were small stone tables around the place, a big "couch" made of stone, but cushioned with something he could not recognize. At the very edge was a medium twin-sized bed that had almost enough space for two people. The room itself was dull, there was no color mostly, but now and then, there were some colorful cloths draped over things. When Gregor found out that his room was extremely close to Luxa's, he was ecstatic. He left for Luxa's room just when he thought nobody was watching. Slowly, he walked in. He saw that Luxa was sitting on her bed.

"Hey Luxa." Gregor said in a relatively hushed voice. Luxa smiled.

"Greetings, Gregor." She replied, motioning him to sit down with her. Gregor joined her and she leaned against him.

"So, how are you feeling?" Gregor asked, feeling her tense up. She looked really sad.

"I missed you so much!" She whispered, burying her head in him.

"Me too. I was really depressed that I couldn't see you. It felt like something was not there in my heart." Gregor relaxed and felt all the tension leave from his body. Slowly, he moved his arm around her. "So how was it like here without me?"

"Horrible, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I had so many responsibilities as well. I would always be distracted, even when I'm discussing matters with the council. Everyday, when I had the time, I would sit at the place where I last saw you, always thinking of you. I almost couldn't live with myself when Howard said you did not have light. To think that I just was lucky enough to see you again." Luxa started to cry. Gregor felt his heart go with her.

"I have done horribly in the Overland. My thoughts always went back to you. I didn't do well in school. I would always dream about you. But it's different now. It's okay Luxa, I'm back and I'll never leave you again." Gregor reassured her, although he felt like he was at his breaking point as well. They sat like that in silence for a few moments. It brought back relaxing memories, flying with Luxa leaning on his shoulders, dancing with her at Hazard's party, their last moments together, all of those couldn't matter more than what he felt right now. In his heart, Gregor knew that this was where he belonged now. The life above was too much for him, he was never understood. But here, he was treated well and with respect. Gregor could feel Luxa starting to fall asleep, her eyes were fluttering dreamily. Before long, she was resting gently on his lap. Gregor just stood there, holding still. He would remember this moment for his whole life. What it was like to be with Luxa again. Once again, Gregor looked at her peaceful face. She was hardly ever like this, and he wanted to be happy with her again. Pretty soon, he started nodding off. He was too tired to resist and was too comfortable resting with Luxa.

"Together again." Gregor thought dreamily as he closed his eyes for the last time…

_Up! Down! Up! Down! Its wings were getting tired, and it was breathing raggedly. Its body was burning. Flying for hours was not something it could do when wounded drastically. It couldn't go on like this, it had to rest. It landed near a river and started eating some fish it caught. _

_"I wish I could be better, but so far, life has been most gracious on me. I shouldn't ask for more than I have right now." It thought, gnawing on the fish. Feeling better, it started thinking about what it was going to do. For it really needed to get to Regalia. And it was not only for plans. There were certain things to do…_

"Wake up!" A voice said somewhere. Gregor opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep with Luxa and she had gotten up before him. Luxa was in front of him, waiting for him to get up.

"Okay okay, I'll get up. Can't I get some sleep?" Gregor complained as he sat up. When he saw Luxa's expression, he knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" He asked, wishing he hadn't. Luxa's face fell. She reached for his hand.

"Vikus came and said that your sister figured out the prophecy with Nerissa's help and said we had to go today." Luxa sadly said. "He gave us a couple of hours to prepare. Ripred, Lapblood, you, me, Boots, Howard, Hazard, Perdita, Mareth, Aurora, Nike, and Hermes. I was allowed to go because of how I was involved in the quest and because I am not completely old enough to be the queen yet. Since Vikus has healed a lot, he shall be ruling instead of me."

"But that still only adds up to twelve." Gregor said as he did the math in his head.

"I do not know, but all will end up to be clear." Luxa said. They got out of Luxa's room and went to the dining room. Many seats were filled, each with a member of the quest and a few for Vikus and people that Gregor had never seen. Gregor took a seat right next to where Luxa sat.

"So, is this our last feast before the quest?" Gregor asked.

"Yes Overlander, it is the last meal you eat before embarking on this quest." Vikus said sadly. "I wish that you would not be needed, but I am afraid that you have to be the warrior again. We have somewhat repaired your sword, although it could never be as good as when it had not been broken." Guiltily, Gregor looked down. Maybe he was acting a little harsh when he said he killed the warrior. It was true that he still got that buzzing rager sensation whenever kids at his school taunted him and even threatened to fight him.

"I guess the warrior isn't dead after all. He just took a break." Gregor thought. He remembered how he dreamed of living in the Underland again, reliving his fighting moments. Now, Gregor felt like the warrior side of him was brought back to life again. After a while, the kitchen doors opened. The cooks bustled in with many delicious foods. Each person got ten different dishes. One dish had a steaming fish on it. Four other dishes each had a different type of mushroom in it. Two dishes each had a tiny portion of some green vegetable. Another dish had bread in it. Ripred's favorite dish was included as well; a small dish of shrimp in cream sauce had been included. For the last dish, it had a bowl of steaming beef stew on it, Gregor's favorite during the times of the Prophecy of Time. Eagerly, everybody started to tuck in. Ripred finished first, excused himself, and left the room. Gregor took the opportunity of that to talk to Luxa.

"So Luxa, I've been thinking, uh… do you want to go to the museum after this?" Gregor whispered to her, taking excruciating care not to let anyone here.

"I would Gregor, but first I have some duties with the council first. After that, let us go to the museum." Luxa whispered back. Gregor finished his meal and went to his room. He wondered what to do now. He had nothing to do. Before, he would visit Dulcet and see Boots…BOOTS! He completely forgot about his family! Gregor raced out of his room and went to the infirmary. As he ran, he saw a crowd of solemn looking people staring at him, whispering a bunch of words.

"Warrior. Overlander. Prophecy. Sword. Dark. Death. Queen." He had heard them say. To his annoyance, he also had to push ecstatic people away when they were so overjoyed at his return.

"The warrior has returned! The warrior has returned! Oh this is a happy day indeed! How jubilant am I! We will have light again!" One person happily shouted.

"Sorry, sorry, oops, sorry, my bad, oh, so sorry, forgive me, excuse me." Gregor muttered as he pushed and shoved over-excited people on his way to the infirmary.

"Now I know what it's like to be chased by paparazzi." Gregor thought, very unhappily. When he reached the entrance to the infirmary, he was in such a bad mood that he almost snapped at a nurse. Instead, he tried to control his temper and asked, "Excuse me, where are my parents?"

"Ask Howard, he knows." The nurse replied, walking away without another look. Gregor walked over to where Howard normally was working and asked to see his parents.

"It is not a good idea Overlander, but your sisters seem fine, excluding the fact that the older one seems to be having some a bit of a shock. I cannot let you see your parents as they are in a horrible state" Howard said, guiding them to a medium sized room filled with toys. He left Gregor to walk in. Gregor could see Boots happily playing with Temp, but Lizzie seemed terrified out of her mind and the only thing that was calming her down was Ripred. He was giving her many math problems, along with some puzzles. When they saw Gregor coming through the door, Ripred was the first to speak.

"Well, if it isn't the retired old warrior, coming here to see his abandoned sisters right away. Bravo, bravo, have been hanging out with your girlfriend, eh?" He taunted. Gregor blushed, and felt angry that Ripred could so easily invade his privacy. Every time, that rat would make his life miserable, making his best moments feel like something the stupidest people would do. No, he made a sound even worse than that. He was determined to make Gregor depressed and they both knew it. Gregor was so angry; he couldn't stop himself when he gave his retort.

"You know, it was the same with Silksharp wasn't it? I thought that you would do anything for her, yet she died." Man, he should not have said that, but it was too late to take it back now. Ripred snarled and lunged at him. Even though he was getting better as a rager, Gregor was still a bit rusty and found himself getting smothered by Ripred's weight.

"Stop, both of you! Why do you act like this? Can't you just stop making fun of him Ripred? And Gregor, I know Ripred and he doesn't like his mate being mentioned!" Lizzie shouted, clearly recovered from her shock. Reluctantly, Ripred got off of Gregor with a yawn.

"This girl has got a lot more sense than you, even though she's your little sister, warrior. I guess the warrior isn't so smart or sensible after all?" Ripred started mocking again.

"Great, now I really lost my patience." Gregor growled. He braced himself and was about to attack Ripred when Boots shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Stop! No fighting, fighting bad!" Boots shouted, swinging her little hands. "Gregor and rat bad! Both bad people get time out! You make Beeg Bug scared!" It was true, Temp was cowering under a table, speaking in crawler.

"I should have never come here." Gregor spat out at Ripred. "You do nothing but get on my nerves."

With that, he straightened up and left the room.


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

"Overlander, why do you look so down?" Howard came up to him and asked.

"Ripred is being a jerk. I finally come to the Underland and this is how he treats me? I think that he is quite worthy of being a jerk." Gregor mumbled.

"You know he is like that, besides, it's been a long time since you were down here. Cheer up." Howard said. "Ripred doesn't really get along with you as you know. Just avoid him for a few days and he'll be better. Trust me, he is also happy that you are down here, he just hides it."

"Thanks Howard, I'll be going to the museum now." Gregor said, leaving.

"Going to spend time with my cousin again? You have been with her a lot. Tsk tsk, for shame Gregor." Howard replied, making a face. Immediately, Gregor felt embarrassed. Then he saw Howard's wink.

"It's fine with me Overlander, don't worry. Anyways, just about everybody knows anyway. But your secret location is safe with me." Howard smiled, pretending to shut his mouth.

"Thanks." Gregor blushed. He quickly ran before Howard could say anything else.

He arrived at the front of a building. Aurora was there resting.

"Overlander, she is inside." Aurora purred.

"Thanks." Gregor mumbled and ran in. A memory flashed past his head as he ran through the hallways.

_"Here is that which has fallen from the Overland. Remember what you choose you must carry." Mareth instructed._

Three staircases and a few more halls later, Gregor had arrived in the museum. Luxa was sitting there, waiting for him. She had brought a candle to the museum and it illuminated her face beautifully. Her face was absolutely glowing and Gregor found himself completely tongue-tied.

"Hi Luxa, um, I just wanted to uh, to be in a more private place before we go on this quest." He stammered. "So, I, yeah, I told you to come here." Luxa laughed, her voice so cheerful now.

"You are at loss for words?" Luxa mocked, smiling as she did so.

"Oh, uh, right." Gregor blushed. This was an extremely awkward moment. He went to sit next to her.

"How fare you here?" Luxa asked, reaching for his hand.

"I'm much happier, and I feel like I belong here now. I am no longer the person I used to be." Gregor said, saddened by the thought of it.

"I understand, it has been a very long time since I have held a doll in my arms. This war has made us both older in a way." Luxa said softly. Her face looked saddened at that thought. Gregor suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to make her feel better.

"Don't you wish you could be a child longer, Luxa?" Gregor asked. Luxa had a wistful look in her eyes.

"To be free from such responsibility and to just have fun in life again, I feel that it would be very nice. But of course it's too late now." She replied, shaking her head.

"Well, I suppose this might be of some fun." Gregor said. He stood up and held out his other hand.

"May I?" He asked, pretending to bow. Luxa giggled and accepted his hand.

"You sound just like Vikus!" She laughed. "This was what he sounded like when he offered Solovet to dance! Oh, how she refused!" Gregor stepped with her, trying not to screw up. Dancing was not something a warrior could do. He tried not to let her notice his clumsy footwork, which would have been embarrassing. They danced around the museum, and Gregor felt that Luxa was guiding him a little. He swung her around and around, her face was full of happiness. Lift, step, swing, step, release. He danced with her in that pattern. Gregor felt like a child again. He was having fun! Again, he released her and Luxa twirled back into him, doing most of the dancing. As she twirled into his arms, Gregor felt her pressure lean into his arms, and he let his arms move with the pressure. As his arms moved down, Gregor found her eyes staring up at him, shining with purple. He felt himself leaning down to Luxa, feeling her breath on his face and he kissed her. Her lips were soft and they pressed against his. Waves of warmness spread through his body. He felt himself melting slowly, his whole body liquefying. Then, Gregor pulled back.

"That was nice." Luxa whispered, still looking into his eyes.

"That was." He agreed. Gregor lifted her back up.

"So I guess you are staying here, you won't go back?" She asked. Gregor knew his decision. Sure, his mom wouldn't like it. She'd be screaming like crazy, but he just couldn't leave Luxa anymore, never. It took him half a second to make his decision.

"My mom won't like to be kept here, but I'll try to make my family stay." Gregor replied.

"Thank you." Luxa hugged him. "We must be going to the docks now. The quest is about to start."

Gregor grabbed some flashlights for the Underlanders and caught a glimpse of a gun. He did a double take, and as sure as it was, there was a pistol on the shelf. Slowly and cautiously, Gregor picked it up.

"What might that be?" Luxa asked, touching it. Gregor reluctantly explained what a gun was. He explained that it bullets with exploding gun powder in it, how when you press the trigger, a complex series of mechanisms would start working and make to gun powder explode, causing the bullet tip to fly out extremely fast. Luxa stared in wonder.

"So this is what you Overlanders use of there?" She asked.

"Yes, but this only is a weaker version of what there actually is. There are ones that fire when you hold down the trigger and the ones to when you shoot, they explode." Gregor explained. Luxa looked at the gun in awe. Gregor searched the shelves again, finding five new candy bars, a baseball bat, a few rubber bands, some pieces of gum, a box of matches, and a small box of ammunition for the gun. Luxa had gotten her three-sided sword and had a whetting stone. Together, they ran outside and mounted on Aurora.

"Aurora, we need to fly over to the Waterway, can you take us there?" Luxa asked. Aurora flew above a river, they were moving at a relatively fast rate. Gregor sat behind Luxa, his arms around her waist and her head on his shoulders.

"So, tell me, what is it like in the Overland? I know I asked you last time, but I want to know what special things you have." Luxa said.

"Um, we have this thing called a movie. Do you remember when I showed you the camera?"

"Yes, was it the box that made, ah yes, phatos? Luxa asked.

"Photos, and yes, well think of moving a person slowly, stopping him each time he moves a bit to take a photo. If you put that many photos together and show them quickly in order, you will see the person move." Gregor explained. When he saw Luxa's confusion, he added, "It is like a play. Luxa, if the council ever lets you visit the Overland, I will let you have the best time you will ever have there."

"I would be very happy if you did so. If only the council allowed me though." Luxa replied. Then, she started to smile, "I shall visit the Overland without their permission. Hah, I would like to see their faces now!" Luxa laughed. She leaned closer to Gregor, "It would be nice if I could come to the Overland some time." She said softly.

"Hopefully, you would blend in with people though." Gregor smiled, thinking of how Luxa would manage without people seeing her purple eyes or her translucent skin…

_Almost there! It could feel it! Just a few more minutes of torture, and it would be in Regalia for its plans. Its breathing got faster; its wings got a burst of adrenaline. It was flying down the Waterway. _

_"Must…Get…To…Regalia!" It thought. Its body was really on fire but it really could not care less. There were just more important things for it to do, more than its care for its body, definitely not. Its body could not have been more important than plans. Plans for something…_

"We are here." Aurora purred, landing near the dock.

"Overlander! I have yet to see you!" Mareth exclaimed, coming with a bone-crushing bear hug. Andromeda also acknowledged him.

"Yeah, I came. Um, you can put me down now, it's starting to hurt." Gregor gasped.

"I am glad you came when you did, we have grave need of you. Fly you high on this quest." Vikus said, walking away.

"Yeah, thanks Vikus." Gregor said.

"Greetings, Overlander." Perdita came forward, offering her hand. Gregor shook it.

"Nice to meet you again, Perdita."

"Hi you!" Boots came running to him on Temp.

"Hi Boots!" Gregor smiled and picked her up.

"Luxa, I'm glad that you're going on this quest with us!" Hazard chirped, hugging her.

"Do not get in trouble, Hazard; I don't want to see you hurt again." Luxa said sternly. Gregor remembered the last time that he had seen Hazard get hurt. They were in Hades Hall when the Swag collapsed, causing a flood. Hazard was choking on water that had flooded on them. He also knew that Hazard breathed in a lot of volcanic ash in the Firelands. Gregor understood why Luxa would be so protective of Hazard.

"Greetings Overlander." Nike purred.

"Hi Nike." Gregor replied. Nike was royalty- she was the princess of the bats. Nike was friendly, happy, and funny. Gregor thought that Howard could make her his bond, replacing Pandora.

"Oh, now you get so popular now, just because you returned. Well, we're all happy you returned." Ripred said sarcastically.

"Nice to meet you too, Ripred." Gregor said. "Jerk." He muttered under his breath.

"Ripred! Stop teasing Gregor! Just because you are my bond does not mean you can annoy other people!" Luxa shouted, clearly annoyed.

"Well boo-hoo to you, Miss Princess, but we all have our own lives here." Ripred retorted.

"He gets like that. Don't worry, he sometimes gets better." Luxa whispered reassuringly to Gregor. He started to doubt when Ripred had ever been nice to him in the past. Sure, he took care of the Bane, and maybe he helped him on fighting. But that didn't mean he had all the rights to make his life miserable. Why, he had just got enough on Gregor's nerves in the Infirmary, and still he was mean to him? That was new, even for Ripred.

"Something must have made him very angry." Gregor thought.

"Probably being bonds with Luxa made him like this." He concluded.

Finally, Lapblood came. They just nodded at each other, understanding what needs they have mutually.

After the introduction, everyone looked at the boat. Gregor gasped. It had not been a boat like what they had when Gregor was trying to hunt down the Bane; it was a huge ship, fully stocked with supplies and weapons. On the side, he found the name of the ship: _The Argo_. This was even better than what he saw in New York City, _The Argo_ was just purely gigantic. He also noticed small holes with arrows sticking out of them and another hole with glass above it, Gregor would ask about the holes later. At the bottom of the ship, there was a rudder and a few oars, they were probably for emergencies. The Waterway was strong enough to carry a ship this big. There was even a huge mast with a sail as big as a room in his apartment. Why, this ship was larger than what he lived in! Slowly, everybody walked up, onto the ship.

The deck was amazing, there were small cabins all around and a huge wooden pole sticking up that operated the rudder, Gregor found a large trapdoor and walked down the stairs into the ship's interior. If the deck of the ship was amazing, then the view inside the ship was spectacular. There were crossbows that needed you to just pull on the string with the bolt attached to fire it through those small windows that he had seen before, there were packs of food enough for a family of shiners, and not to mention that there was a weapon rack in the center.

"Wow." It was all that Gregor managed to say. He was completely blown over by the ship.

"Gregor, it's your sister! She's running towards the ship with a piece of paper in her hand!" Gregor heard Hazard yell from above. Quickly, he ran up the stairs, through the trapdoor, and leapt outside.

"Lizzie! What are you doing up here!" Gregor yelled, "We are about to leave!"

"Overlander! We found out what drinkers are! Take you this!" A member of a council shouted, tossing a rolled up parchment with a rock in it. Gregor caught it and Lizzie piped up.

"I figured out another part of the prophecy! It calls for-." Lizzie was interrupted by an extremely whiny voice.

"Greetings, I am she called Zap, and this is he called Photos Glow-Glow." Said a familiar shiner who saved his life and had a behavior Gregor could not tolerate.

"Shiners." He muttered under his breath. The two friends that found the light in his life.


	6. Chapter 5

**Yma3591: Sorry, still not done yet! Have hope though. Today, toilet got clogged so couldn't write so much. Still, I got some words in there! Hehehehehe**...

**UPDATE DONE! ENJOY**

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CHAPTER 5

"I really do not want them at this time." Gregor thought, remembering how they deserted them when they were on the Prophecy of the Bane quest. A loud uproar started among the creatures on the boat.

"Shiners are just wasting supplies! No! They are there just to finish our supplies for us, nothing else! I will not have those cowards taking all our food! There is no use for them, shiners could all go extinct if I care!" He heard among the outrage. Slowly, Gregor retreated back, down the trapdoor…

_Ah, it could here sounds now, not just running water. The sounds were only a faint buzzing, but it knew from experience what it was. It knew that it was hearing arguing, angry creatures. It could also sense a boat._

_"Maybe, I shall first go to the boat." It thought. With a burst of extra speed, it flew towards the noise, preparing to board, beginning its plans…_

"Excerpt of the Diary of Bartholomew Sandwich's Exploration of the Uncharted Lands." Gregor read. He saw that the words were not in Sandwich's curly handwriting, but in the straight and former lettering of the council's. The words read:

"_It was a disaster, a truly primeval sight. My fellow explorers leapt, aghast at what they saw. We had laid our eyes on the first sighting of what we have now called a drinker, and the group of them had been drinking a bloody heap of a dry shell of some unknown carcass. My fellow explorers have heard the unnerving sucking sound. Faintly, I remember my ancestors learning us of the mosquitoes in the Overland. Although they do not drain one's light, they did cause an itchy bump on the skin. This monster though, was enormous, as large as a small crawler. Its wings were flapping at a rate too fast for our eyes to see. Its eyes were shaped like a sieve, brimmed with red. Instead of a mouth, it had but one sharp tube. This was used to drain one's blood, draining our light. The tip was also poisoned, it could kill pain and you would never have known that the drinker had stuck that tube into your body. The poison was slow-acting, but it had already killed one of my guards today. It had caused a very painful death. We knew that we had to be facing death itself, for the drinker had no need of drinking nor poisoning, its tube was sharp enough to stab through any of our hearts. We had fought them, twenty against five, yet now only thirteen of us live. I have ordered for a retreat, the dangers were just far too much. Let it be known to future travelers that drinkers will be in the Uncharted Lands, waiting for an unsuspecting creature." _

"Well, this prophecy must be the darkest one of all, giving it the title." Gregor thought, shivering at Sandwich's description of a drinker. He sure wouldn't want to end up with one of those in the darkness, even with his echolocationpowers. Gregor quickly grabbed the parchment and ran up the trapdoor to tell everyone of his newfound discovery.

"Guys! I found out what drinkers are!" Gregor yelled. He quickly showed the interested faces the parchment he received. After a while, everybody's face was scared and grave.

"That is the darkest creature I had ever heard of. There should never be one in existence." Ripred said, his face dark.

"I agree, I have seen many evil creatures and plants living in the Arch of Tantalus, but never have I seen one so completely…I can't even find a word to describe it!" Hazard piped up.

"It seems that we will all need each other." Howard said quietly, his face solemn.

"This is the worst enemy I will ever fight in my life." Perdita said.

"I doubt I can fight it, even before when I had a good leg." Mareth grunted.

"It seems that we bats have the same opinions." Nike purred.

"Indeed." A strange purred above them. Quick as a flash everyone had their swords out, just as a shadow flew over them.

_And it was there! Finally, after days of flying, it had arrived and now, it shall start…_

"We do not wish harm to you if you do not to us." Luxa said quietly, putting a hand against Ripred's tense body. He looked like he was going in full rager mode.

"Relax, I mean no harm. Does anyone recognize me?" The creature purred. Gregor looked at it. The thing was shriveled, had torn wings, scabs on its neck, torn ears, and was missing a claw. _Missing a claw._ Everything rushed against Gregor, crushing him down in waves of guilt, happiness, sorrow, and amazement. He was overwhelmed by it all.

"Ares, is that actually you?" Gregor asked in a tentative voice, barely managing to choke down his tears.

"Finally, you recognize me, Overlander." Ares purred. Starting is batty laugh. "Huh-ahuh-huh-huh-huh-ahuh." With that, Ares lost consciousness and dropped onto the ship.

"ARES!" Gregor shouted, reaching him before anyone else. "You can't go now! You survived too much just to die now! Please! Live!"

"Overlander, I can help!" Howard shouted, moving over with a medical kit in his hand. "Everybody, clear the way! I need as much space as possible!" Everybody obeyed.

"Will he be okay?" Gregor asked in a desperate tone. He had not felt this desperate since the time when Luxa had almost died.

"Good news Overlander, he still breathes and I think that I can sew him up." Howard muttered as he worked on Ares' wings. Gregor relaxed and yawned. "Overlander, I think it is time to assign everyone their sleeping quarters. Ripred and Lapblood, you go to Cabin One. Gregor and Boots, Cabin Two. Mareth and Perdita, Cabin Three. Luxa and I, Cabin Four. Oh no, we do not have enough space for everyone. Someone will have to share their room."

"Not mine." Ripred snarled, baring his teeth at everyone.

"We can take one of the children." Mareth said, "But the Queen will not have enough space left in our room."

"I suppose you will want to share a room with my cousin, Overlander." Howard said with a smirk on his face. Gregor blushed, and said, "Fine. But where will Temp go?"

"Why Temp will sleep on the deck. Wait, did any of you remember Temp being on this ship?" Howard asked, getting cautious.

"I went, by myself, I went. Princess, need to protect, Princess." Temp said.

"Alright, Temp can come." Gregor announced. He found Luxa and Boots agreeing with him.

"Temp give Boots fun ride!" Boots laughed running towards Temp.

"Then it is decided," Luxa said. Everyone entered their cabins. Gregor followed Luxa to their cabin.

"This is the only large ship we have, so the rooms are very nice." Luxa said proudly, leading him in. The room was truly amazing; there was a blue background of the sea, a couple of comfortable chairs. There were two beds and a large bench. A couple of books lining the bookshelf and some tables were the only other things he could see. The cabin was a little on the small side, which was a disappointment to Gregor, but he liked everything else about it. Comfortably, he went to lie down on his bed. Luxa went as well.

"This quest may be dark, but I hope that we can both manage to survive it." Luxa said to him, Gregor could hear the fear in her voice.

"You know that I will risk my life to save you, right?" Gregor asked.

"It is not that, I cannot lose you again." Luxa said her voice slightly breaking.

"I will be fine." Gregor said, though he actually doubted himself. To prevent any more dark ideas, he blew out all the fire in the room.

"Good night, Luxa." He whispered, hearing her soft, gentle breathing rhythm. Slowly, he fell asleep…

_Sword in hand, NO! Something wrong, there was something bad happening. The white fur, oh the white fur towering over them was moving slowly. Gregor felt some sensation and something whizzed by his body. He saw a furry claw grab Ares. _

_"ARES NO!" He yelled, stabbing the Bane with all his strength. Slowly, Gregor saw the Bane sinking his teeth into Ares' neck, biting deeply. And then he was falling, down into a heavenly blue light. Gregor felt himself floating, dreamily through a lit world. How strange, the lights were talking. In fact, he heard them talk, "Need more food, Zap, we have to have more food!" _

_"I know, but the humans are so scrimpy! All they have is but a simple ship full of food! That could not possibly last us through a month! We must desert!" _

_"Shush, the Overlander is waking! Don't you know better than making this much noise Zap?" SLAP!_

_"OW! Why how dare you! I'm going to get you right back!" _

CRASH! Gregor opened his eyes. He saw the shiners fighting and yelling.

"You're so stupid Zap! You can't even follow simple directions on not waking the Overlander!"

"Oh, so I am the one so stupid! You were the one who got beaten by me on the introduction, finally!"

"Photos Glow-Glow is a better name than Zap anyways, so I deserve the introductory rights!"

"Says you! I remember how that human called you 'Fo-Fo', isn't that right, 'Fo-Fo'?"

"AHHHHHH!" Bam! Smash! Gregor heard overturned tables and the whole ship rocking from the force.

"Whew, enough, oof, I can't fight anymore." Photos Glow-Glow panted, losing his light.

"What a work-out!" Zap agreed, "But I am stronger than you!" She tried fluttering her wings but flopped right on the ground.

"Guys, cut it out!" Gregor called. He saw Luxa getting up. "It's okay, just the shiners." Gregor said to her reassuringly. Luxa fell right back to bed. With the shiners too tired to even move and the room peaceful again, Gregor started to sleep again, with an even stranger dream.

_Darkness gathering around, surrounded by it. Death, despair! Gregor clicked his tongue, nothing. Just the dark, not even echolocation could fix that. The whole world became dark, nothing but him remaining. Then, his floor let go…_

_Falling, falling…ARES! Gregor felt himself being caught. He flew up into nothingness, not seeing anything. _

"WARRIOR!" Ripred roared, Gregor woke up hearing battle sounds. What? What had happened, invasion?

"Cutters!" Mareth yelled, flinging open the door to his room and throwing a sword at Gregor. He caught it and understood. When Gregor went outside, it was in complete chaos. Apparently, the cutters had boarded the ship and were destroying everything. At once, his mind became sharp with his rager senses and he ran into battle. Cutter there! Slice! Cutter jumping! Slap! Gregor used his blade many ways. He would slice at an ant with the edge of the sword, or slap them with the blade. If he was really in danger, he would knock the ant away with the hilt.

"Spin, you idiot!" Ripred snarled.

"There is no second weapon for me to spin with!" Gregor snapped back, slicing another cutter in two.

"Overlander!" Howard threw a dagger at him. Gregor caught it immediately in his left and pivoted himself. He pushed forward on his right foot and twisted himself around and around, slowly letting his rager senses take over, demolishing any cutter that came near him. Now, all Gregor could see were the heads of cutters, each time he spun, a dozen had been cut off. Then, his rager senses completely kicked in and he lost track of everything.

"Gregor help!" A desperate voice broke through his senses. Luxa was being carried away by two ants, crawling at an amazing speed. All the other crawlers had gone.

"LUXA!" He screamed.

"Hold down boy, you don't want to go there. Trust me; we will try to get her later." Ripred calmly said. "No! We need to save her now!" Gregor screamed back, starting to despair. Something clunked in his pocket, the gun! It was his only chance; Gregor pulled it out and aimed at the ants far away.

"I really hope I am accurate." He thought and felt his arm jerk a bit to the right. Gregor pulled on the trigger. There was a huge explosion of sound and he saw a cutter drop down, dead. Gregor fired another shot, hitting the other one. Panting, Gregor put the gun back in his pocket. Everybody sat still as they stared at him, and Aurora quickly went to bring Luxa back. Gregor hugged her and still saw everyone looking at him.

"What?" He asked, although he knew. They were staring at his new found skill.


	7. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

"What be that weapon you used?" Howard asked quietly, pointing at Gregor's pocket.

"Oh, it's, um, a weapon we use in the Overland. You know how you use bows and swords? Well we use these things called guns. They are like your bows, but think of the arrow being smaller, sharper, and travelling about as fast as sound." Gregor explained, looking at the faces staring in awe at his pocket. The only one that was not unnerved was Ripred. Aurora brought Luxa down on the ship, putting her gently on the deck.

"I know they are lethal, but they have to be aimed, like a bow you humans are so fond of. I have heard of this from the Overland gnawers." Ripred said with a yawn, examining his paw.

"Well that's all; we should go back to our rooms now." Gregor said stiffly, getting more annoyed at Ripred.

"Fine… _pup._" Ripred sneered, crawling back into his own cabin.

"Shut up, can't you realize that I've had enough? You've been like this the whole time!" Gregor growled, lifting Luxa up into his arms and walking to his cabin. When they were inside the cabin, Gregor gently put her on the bed.

"Thank you." Luxa whispered, touching his hand.

"You know I would risk anything to save you." Gregor replied, stroking her cheek.

"So, that is what your Overland weapon does." Luxa said, pointing at the gun.

"Yep, although you have to aim like you do with your bows. I'm not quite sure how I managed to aim the accurately." Gregor replied, his face forming a quizzical expression. He had sort of unintentionally aimed and fired. The risks of shooting Luxa were too great, but somehow, that rager-like sensation with the gun changed his mind. Suddenly, a wide array of possibilities flashed through his head. He groaned as he realized that they were just as bloodthirsty as the rager sensation made him. Killing cutters, shooting them from afar…

"What is wrong, Gregor?" Luxa asked, looking worried, "You have had a gleam in your eye and you have tensed up."

"Oh, what? Oh you mean… yeah, I think I have a sensation sort of like the rager sensation, but with this gun." Gregor said, startled. To prevent himself from answering more questions, he pretended to fall asleep…

_Ares was burning up, fires were consuming him. Heat all around, wings in huge pain. His body on fire, burning…burning…_

"Wake up! Why do I always have to wait for you two?" Ripred's snarl echoed in Gregor's head.

"Hmm…what?" He said sleepily, twisting himself around. Gregor found Luxa sleeping next to him.

"Hey, Luxa, wake up!" Gregor whispered in her ear, giving her a little shake.

"I do not want to get up, Vikus!" Luxa muttered, rolling around. Gregor tried again, this time successful.

"Ripred! I thought you were my bond! I do not wish to wake this early!" Luxa snapped, standing up.

"It breakfast! It breakfast!" Boots' happy chirp came from outside. Gregor went outside and found a couple of bowls filled with soup on a table. There were slices of bread and cheese. He could see Boots happily digging in and feeding Temp as well.

"Temp eats! Temp eats good food! Good Temp!" Boots said, scooping up soup into the cockroach's mouth, making a mess.

"Ohhh, not good I feel, not good." Temp moaned, lying down. Gregor knew the crawler was in torture. He himself had been in Boots' eating games and it was not fun. She would just shovel a lot of food in your mouth, not caring for accuracy. Most of the time, you would whether choke or get very dirty.

"Boots, there's a yummy bread plane flying in! We need a place for it to land!" Gregor said, dunking a piece of bread in soup and "flying" it into Boots' mouth.

"I gib plane place to lan'!" Boots said through a mouth full of food. Gregor fed her more, also eating some himself. It took him forty minutes to get through his meal. After that, he excused himself and went to see Ares. Gregor walked through the doorway and saw his bond in a terrible mess. There was bloody everywhere as well as torn wings. He was missing a claw from the battle with the Bane and had two huge scars from where the Bane bit him. Ares must have been really strong, almost invincible, to last through the plague with the Bane fight back to back. Gregor had already been in awe that his bond recovered that fast from the plague, but now he was just completely astonished that Ares had cheated death itself. Ares' reputation just got larger and larger.

"Hey, Ares. How are you doing?" Gregor asked. Ares grimaced. The bat shifted around, trying to find a comfortable spot.

"Not well, but I have been recovering." Ares said.

"So how did you manage to survive that attack?" Gregor asked, getting curious.

"When I was bitten, I became unconscious and couldn't do anything. Later, I had to survive on anything that came by me, it didn't matter most of the time what it was. Finally, I was well enough to fly and I flew to Regalia." Ares told his story. "The reasons I survived were that I was the son of Achilles and that I was lucky enough to be bitten on places that were only near my veins."

"Who is Achilles?" Gregor asked.

"Achilles was my father and he was a strong war bat. He survived any attack and was the best bond that lived. One day, my father went to war with his bond and he was clawed by a gnawer in his claw where you humans would call a heel or wrist. My father fell from there and he and his bond both were completely eaten by the gnawers." Ares explained. "I inherited his resilience to attacks."

"Overlander, I know he is your bond but he needs his rest!" Howard called from outside.

"See you around, I guess." Gregor mumbled and he held out his hand to Ares' undamaged claw. They did the bond handshake and Gregor left the room.

"You are very lucky; Ares has survived very much unlike Pandora." Howard said, catching up to Gregor.

"True, but then again, I thought he died." Gregor replied.

"Yes, that is true, but you are lucky to have a bond once more. After you left, many humans bonded with the gnawers. Most of the people on this ship have gnawer bonds. I myself, have a bond called Sharpclaw. He is not very strong, but he is smarter than most rats and actually has sympathy for other creatures." Howard said.

"Howard, come here now!" Hazard came running, breathless and panting. Howard went to look what was bothering Hazard so much and froze when he looked ahead.

"Everyone! We are approaching the maelstrom! Fliers, we need you to take whatever you can and help drag the ship across!" Howard yelled. Gregor remembered the whirlpool that Twitchtip almost drowned in. She fell overboard and nobody tried to save her. Except Gregor. At that time, Gregor did not know how much the humans hated the gnawers, seeing nobody helping her made him furious. Now, since the humans were at peace with rats, Gregor could relax, knowing that nothing bad will occur unless they ran to the Uncharted Lands or the cutters. He went next to Howard and took a look at the whirlpool. Surely, it had to be the large one he had seen on the last quest. What Gregor actually saw though, made his heart stop. The maelstrom was a huge, vast, spiral of dark water. There were huge walls of white froth foaming at the edges. The one he saw in the last quest was just a baby compared to the one he was seeing now. Why, it could swallow two of his apartment rooms with ease! Gregor gasped in shock.

"Yes, this is an unusually large one, but I have seen one like this." Howard said, as if he had read Gregor's mind.

"Geez!" Gregor thought. "I really have been missing out on things!"

"Boots!" He called out, hoping to get her on a bat as fast as possible.

"Gregor! We go swim, we go swim?" Boots jumped up and down excitedly, running to him.

"No swimming! Boots go fly, okay?" Gregor said, lifting her up.

"I need a flier!"

"Andromeda and I shall take her, Overlander. Do not worry, she shall be safe." Mareth said, taking Boots from Gregor and hoping on Andromeda.

"Gregor, you need to mount on Aurora now! Ares is already trying to fly away!" Luxa yelled from Aurora's back. Gregor mounted and saw his bat flying already, trying to pull the ship up.

"Is he strong enough?" Gregor asked.

"No, Overlander, we are going to help him." Aurora purred and dived in to help Ares. Gregor saw every bat trying to lift the ship. Slowly, their ship lifted up and he could hear the shiners screaming.

"Ahhhh! What are you doing? WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Photos Glow-Glow screamed.

"Wait! First, we can get some food before we die!" Zap exclaimed excitedly and went down to eat the supplies.

"I am with her because we did not come on this trip to be in a maelstrom. We will have to require more food." Photos Glow-Glow explained, and rushed down to eat as well. Despite the situation he was in, Gregor found himself laughing at the shiners' antics and watched them abandoning the ship, flying away in their fat bodies while munching on food.

"They would think of food at this time." Ripred snarled, gnashing his teeth together. "When we are done with this quest, I will so kill them. They have that coming. Warrior, this is not funny business!" Gregor couldn't help but keep on laughing. Somehow, it was so funny and he wanted to keep on laughing. Then, he realized that Boots and Hazard were laughing before him and Luxa had started laughing as well. Even Howard started getting a smile on his face.

"Everybody, remember the Vineyard of Eyes?" Ripred asked. "Because currently we are breathing something like that. Fliers, I need you to last as long as you can. Looks like that gas is coming from the island up ahead." Gregor started getting delirious; tears were flying out of his eyes as he shook with mirth. Now, he started to see an island shaped like a melon up ahead.

"Like a melon." He thought and cracked up. Somehow again, that seemed funny. Now, his vision started getting fogged up and Gregor was panting for breath, shuddering but still happy.

"Come on! Just a bit more…there!" Ripred shouted triumphantly. Gregor immediately shot out of his stupor and gazed around. He saw the island behind him and the whirlpool by it. The fliers landed back on the ship and Ares was carried by Mareth and Howard back into his cabin.  
"Warrior, I do not intend that happening again. You cannot just lost discipline in times of danger. We are all very disappointed in you." Perdita scolded, walking up to him.

"We still made it, I don't see the problem."

"The problem is that your foolish little head just can't register any danger. Think! You aren't a child any more! I thought you fought enough to realize that! The reason that we older people are more resistant is because we have our guards always up! Didn't you learn never to let your guard down?" Ripred snapped at him.

"Fine, I won't do that again." Gregor said, a bit depressed. Now that he realized it, he had let his guard down to the gas and that was the only reason he was susceptible to it. Head hung, he walked away sitting alone, waiting until they reached the Labyrinth. After a while, he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"Gregor, do not be depressed by what Ripred said. Ever since he became my bond, he did that to everybody. I do not know why but he has changed." Luxa said, sitting next to him.

"That's not what I am depressed at. It's just that I found out that I wasn't the invincible person I thought I was. Being a rager and all, I thought I learned enough now, but I guess the gases from the island beat me."

"Maybe if you apologize to him, he might be nicer?" Luxa suggested.

"Why not? There's nothing to lose." Gregor thought. "Good idea, I'll do that now." Slowly walking towards Ripred, he opened his mouth to apologize: "Sorry Ripred, I know I haven't been very careful and almost got you guys killed." Ripred was unmoved.

"You have to be more careful, warrior." Ripred coolly said and crawled away.


	8. Chapter 7

**Yma3591: Sorry I haven't been devoted. School, friends, and Black Ops definitely took their toll on me. I'll try, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. Plus, please guess what my age is. I wonder what you guys think. Just add that bit in your review is all that I'm asking, not much. Give me a few laughs, thank you! **

**Special thanks to: **RagerMan630** and **slice of cheese

**Disclaimer: I really don't own this series (obviously). You can tell I'm not Suzanne Collins or if I'm making things up, right? If you can't tell or you guessed wrong, you are retarded. But it is fun to pretend to be Suzanne Collins. Yes I claim I own this story, not the series or anything that has to do with it. That, I can happily proclaim!  
**

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Chapter 7

Gregor was confused. What had he done wrong? Apologizing to Ripred did make him a bit snobbish, but he always did cool down a bit. This was different, he just walked away. It was as if he just lost his patience and gave up. Ripred was definitely not some person or rat that would give up. He was a rager after all. Gregor decided that something really was wrong. No, what Gregor needed to do was find out.

Carefully, as not to make any noise, Gregor stalked up to Ripred's cabin. He pressed his ear against the wall and listened for anything of importance.

"Great, ever since I bonded with that brat of a queen, I was showered with responsibilities. Do you know how hard it is to make a decision that both the humans and us agree to? It just completely makes me go crazy! I always have the need to take out my anger on anyone, even my bond." Gregor heard Ripred talking, supposedly to Lapblood, through a recently discovered tiny crack in the wall he was listening through. No wonder Ripred was so cranky. All that pressure would have driven himself crazy as well. Gregor tried to think of a way to calm Ripred down when he heard the rat's voice right beside his ear.

"Forgot that I use echolocation to see?" Ripred's voice snarled. "I do not like people who spy on other people, especially my own pupil."

"You know that it's not my fault or anyone else's that you are so mad! Anyways, you know that marking yourself as the Peacemaker had its consequences. Don't take it out on me or Luxa for what you inflicted on yourself! Geez!" Gregor was pretty heated up now. He could feel the rager sensation coursing through him.

"You're right, I shouldn't have blame thins on you or my bond" Ripred softened. Gregor was surprised. The tough, hardened rat never softened in front of most people unless it was a rare situation, or if the person happened to be Lizzie. "Oh, and you better practice your rager powers because you've really got rusty. Try to incorporate some echolocation in to that as well. Especially the spin attack, seeing you fight the cutters did not exactly make me satisfied."

Gregor walked away and went down the trapdoor. He needed to find a nice weapon, one almost as good as Sandwich's. Looking around, he tested the swords there. One was sharp and gleamed with a metallic sheen, but looked delicate. Another one was a rapier, too thin for his liking. Gregor looked at another one. The sword he saw was in a star shape, five sharp edges emitting from a center pole that ended in a point. It reminded him of the one Luxa used. He put it by the wall to bring it to Luxa later. Slowly, Gregor examined every single sword in there. The problems were all clear to him: too much scarring, too weak, too thin, too light, too heavy, and unbalanced. The swords in front of him all were horrible, meant for a lowly soldier. The one Howard gave him was even better, but it just wasn't Sandwich's. Gregor sighed in frustration, and noticed another sword on the floor. Just sitting there, the sword was all ready cutting into the floor. Putting his hand on the hilt, Gregor lifted it up and admired the balance. He swung it around, feeling the medium weight and the ease of the swing.

"This is nice, almost the twin of Sandwich's sword. Sharp, relatively light, good grip, and perfect balance." Gregor thought.

"I see that you have found a sword." Mareth's voice came behind him. Gregor jumped around and saw his friend, scarred and strong.

"Uh, yeah. It's pretty strong, and sharp too." Gregor said, making some cuts in the air. Mareth stared as if in recognition. Suddenly he frowned, "Overlander, before you actually use this sword in combat, you must go ask Ares about this sword. I am positive that he knows the history of it."

"Okay?" Gregor felt the conversation going weird. Although he obliged to do so, Gregor was puzzled at Mareth's behavior.

"Does he make such a big deal out of this sword? I definitely approve it, but he doesn't? Plus I still have to ask Ares about some kind of history." He thought glumly. Sheathing the sword around a belt he had found in the room, Gregor left for Ares' cabin. As he approached the room, Gregor heard some muttering and sighs as Ares was hallucinating, and recovering from his recent stresses. Gregor really did not want to wake his bat up, but he needed to satisfy his curiosity and so he walked in.

"Ares, I need you to tell me about this sword." Gregor whispered, shaking the bat.

"Worms, more worms! Yes fish, fish is good, and add some more worms!" Ares muttered in his sleep, tossing and turning around. Apparently, he was still dreaming about his survival diet…Ugh.

"Ares, wake up!" Gregor said louder, shaking the bat a bit harder.

"Oh Gregor, that's strange, wait no, oh yes I am on a ship, good I remember now." Ares mumbled. "What do you want, I need some sleep." He grumbled.

"Do you know what this is?" Gregor pulled out the sword. Ares' eyes widened.

"That is the sword of my father's bond, Aor! I would know that anywhere! My father's bond with the name of Copernicus showed me that same sword when I was small. Aor is the brother sword of Sandwich's; the Aor is almost as powerful and deadly as the sword of Sandwich. The only difference was that Sandwich's sword was better at cutting and balance. There is a legend that a human named Hephaestus made it with the help of a flier named Apollo. Although this sword may have a dark history much like Sandwich's, you should find a satisfying power using it." Ares said. He reached out a claw to touch it. "My father let me touch this sword one more time before he died. The same must not happen to you, remember that."

"Alright, I will." Gregor mumble. His mind was on fire, what an amazing sword! If only he could see it in battle, and he could imagine the action: Slicing through the ranks of cutters, decapitating them and slicing the heads off easier than cutting water.

"_A very nice sword, you can kill anyone if you need to, anyone. Such power and strength, I can make that very lethal if only you let me take control."_ Gregor's rager instinct whispered in his head.

"What a nice thought, almost invincibility with such lethalness, stronger than Ripred…" Gregor thought dreamily. "Wait, NO!" Too late now, Gregor could feel the buzzing of his rager sensation and the reddening of vision. This time, it had gone too far. How could he have so willingly succumbed to the instinct to kill? It was so hard to fight, and it was part of him. Gregor needed to talk to Ripred, fast. He ran up to Ripred's cabin yelled: "Ripred! I need some rager advice, and a pretty good time is now!"

"What now?" Ripred asked in an exasperated sigh.

"Have you…ever…felt like your rager side is…controlling you? Like, making you want to kill for no reason?" Gregor asked, unsure of what to say.

"Hmm, maybe…I do have a bit of lust for battle, but never have I allowed my rager side to control me, or at least not since I controlled it," Ripred added. "Besides, you almost can control it so master that and it will go away. I really am unsure of this situation, even when I didn't control my rager state this did not happen to me. All I can say is, your rager side is a bit more anxious for battle, and that's not such a bad thing, right?"

_More anxious for battle._ That was exactly what it felt like. He felt a huge urge, maybe addiction, towards battle, and owning one awesome sword did not help.

"Man, I really have changed from that other guy in that other time ago. This rager thing is definitely starting to get to me because even in my past state, I didn't feel this," Gregor thought, scared at his own rager side now. "I'm a monster. Well at least my rager side is. I really shouldn't let it control me in battle, though it does give me a better edge."

_"That's right; I am the source of your strength, the source of your skills and power. Without me you're useless_, _you need me!"_ This time the rager side talked though, Gregor rolled his eyes.

"Need more self control next time. I guess." He said aloud.

"Well, that's a start." Ripred said uneasily. Looking at the flashing glances that Ripred kept giving him; Gregor thought that he looked at him like a victim of the plague Neveeve created. That was not a good sign at all. Still, he had to be persistent.

"Wait, I have a secret." Ripred whispered, eyes darting back and forth. "I have seen a rager that felt his rager side overwhelming himself. Although he had some control over it, he was corrupted by power and exercised the power whenever he could, if you know what I mean. "

"We are approaching the Labyrinth!" Howard pointing into space. "The fliers have detected it far in the direction I have been pointing to. We are almost there and very close to the Uncharted Lands."

"Now listen to me, Overlander. From one rager to another, I know that you will lose control so watch out. By the way, Howard's right, the Labyrinth is in that way and you can find out with echolocation." Ripred said, flicking his tail around.

"Right..." Gregor uneasily said. "Oh, just a question: How exactly did the cutters know we were there?"

"Because we intruded on their land." Ripred replied, rolling his eyes.

"But I thought that was the gnawer's land, isn't it?" The second that Gregor said that Ripred raised his eyebrows. Then his face became full of emotions, one in particular. Shock.

"WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!" Ripred roared. "We never went on the cutters' land, they found us!"

"But how would someone do that?" Mareth and Perdita came running and asked. Seeing all the commotion, everyone else gathered around. Gregor could see the shock-filled faces of everybody, even Temp. Unfortunately, Ares was not strong enough to be there.

"It was simple, ask for a secret alliance with the cutters and become the spy. From there, the traitor would relay information back and forth with the cutters. They would always meet at a secret, appointed location so that they are never discovered." Ripred snarled angrily, pacing back and forth.

"What's the point of allying yourself to the cutters?" Gregor asked curious. There seemed to be no point. Now that the humans are allies with every species except the cutters, it would be stupid to ally yourself with the weaker side. It was true that you could get some power, but what was the point of that if you were discovered or if the cutters lost? Gregor pondered over the question until his head was spinning. Finally, he gave up and asked in frustration: "Well does anyone know the answer to my question at all? Geez, didn't you hear what I said?"

"Of course, but we thought the reason had dawned upon you. Well the reason is that power, information, protection, and revenge are all very strong motivators," Howard said. Now Gregor understood, Henry sided with the rats for all of those reasons. "But the question is, who would be that corrupt?" Howard inquired. Suddenly, Luxa's face flashed with recognition as she fit the pieces of the puzzle together. She became filled with rage, sorrow, betrayal, and disbelief.

"I do believe that my idiot of a cousin knows the obvious answer to that question. Now who's ready to die?" A voice laughed softly from the side of the Waterway. Stellovet.


	9. Chapter 8

**Yma3591: I am so sorry, but Black Ops has been so awesome! Hey, at least I finished Chapter 7, right? Plus, it would really, really help if someone could just give me some plot ideas.**

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CHAPTER 8

"What?" Was all Gregor could get out before he pulled Aor out. It was good that he did because at that moment, a group of cutters swarmed him.

"How could you, sister? You of all the people, my oldest sister. Why? Please do not do this, please!" Howard's voice was full of grief. He almost chocked on the last sentence but quickly recovered himself and started fighting.

"Why? Of course you have become weak and simple-minded," Stellovet spat out. Continuing her tirade, Gregor could feel the damage she was causing: "How dare you, my oldest brother, side with my idiot of a cousin! Luxa is too weak and idiotic to use her powers, they should have belonged to me. I would be a better Queen than she. She cannot handle a thing and requires her 'Warrior' to help her on everything! How dare she steal him from me, HE WAS MINE!" At that point in Stellovet's loud screeching, Gregor became angry as well. He was Luxa's and she knew it, and he never even liked Stellovet. The first impressions that Gregor had on Stellovet had been right. She was a snobbish girl who was ambitious and vain.

"I never liked you Stellovet, what makes you think that I do? Luxa has always been the one I truly loved!" Gregor yelled, fending off glancing blows from the invading cutters.

"Exactly, and that is why you all MUST DIE!" Stellovet screamed. "KILL THEM ALL! I want them all dead!" With that, more and more cutters poured into their ranks, all trying to kill them. With his rager senses brewing a full storm, Gregor unleashed his power. With the Aor, he slashed and blocked anything in his way. A pincer there! A head here! They were all insignificant to him. The Aor was great. The sword would gleam in the light of the cowering shiners, metallic red with blood. It reaped death itself in Gregor's hands as he swung it around and around, becoming a powerful killing machine.

_"Why don't you use that nice gun of yours, with that sword and that gun, you can do some really serious damage."_ Gregor's rager side advised. Gregor pulled out his gun and shot with the precision of a sniper. Each bullet would tear through multiple ants, disturbing many in the ambush as they trampled over each other, trying to take out the most dangerous threat. Even Ripred caused less damage than him, which was strangely scary in a way.

_Click, click._ His gun was out of bullets. He had fired fifteen in all, and had done enough damage through the cutters, but he still had to keep fighting. Looking at Ripred, he thought of an idea: "Maybe, I could use the gun as something for my spin attack…"

Immediately, he put the gun right into place and pivoted around. Gregor gained momentum and spun around and around. As he was spinning, Gregor's rager senses presented him with strategies and much of the battle detail. He could see the pincers usually, but looming through his senses, coursing throughout his whole system was his hatred for Stellovet. He hated how she hurt everybody physically and emotionally. He hated how she damaged Luxa, how she taunted and tried to kill her. She should not be alive. Gregor span faster and faster towards Stellovet. She wasn't even noticing him as she was shouting orders with a smug smile of satisfaction on her face. Suddenly, Gregor jumped and slashed at her, cutting open her arm and scarring her stomach. Stellovet shrieked and yelled: "Defend me! Kill that Overlander!"

A couple of ants carried Stellovet away as she cried out in pain. It was worth it to see her in pain, but Gregor could not afford to celebrate now. He wasn't spinning anymore because of his attack on Stellovet and he could see a slight diminish to the cutters' ranks. Suddenly, the cutters stopped and retreated. They walked off the boat and Gregor saw that nobody was on the _Argo_. He started getting scared, and forgot his echolocation powers.

"Luxa? Boots? Howard? Mareth?" He yelled, searching for them. Gregor heard no reply. Now, he started panicking. Where was everyone? Did they get killed by the cutters? Did they fall overboard? There was certainly blood on the floor, and many cutter bodies.

"Gregor!" Came a weak reply. Hurriedly, Gregor ran towards the sound and found Ares still resting.

"They went to the Labyrinth. They thought you went with them. The cutters still fought you until they realized that you were the only one left. Since I have recovered enough, I shall fly you there." Ares said, looking stronger by the second.

Gregor quickly ran down the trapdoor and loaded up on supplies. As he was getting the supplies, Gregor thought about it and reloaded his gun. Quickly, his fingers slid the lid off the ammunition box and swiftly took fifteen out. Amazingly, he didn't even look to know he had fifteen, maybe it was because of his rager instincts?

"Are you ready?" Ares called to him. Gregor sprinted up and slid on Ares back, bidding Ares to fly.

"We have to go faster! I don't want to lose them!" Gregor pleaded Ares desperately. Ares gave a sudden burst of strength (amazingly even though he has wounded badly) and rocketed above the Labyrinth. Now, Gregor could hear fighting sounds and screaming.

"Drop me off." Gregor fell and did a somersault, killing a cutter on impact. He whipped Aor out and spun as fast as he could.

"I really am starting to crack at 400 to 1!" Ripred growled. He slashed at another cutter, vaporizing the body while expertly retaining his spin. By now, Ripred had about ten scars around his whole furry body. Every bit of him seemed to be getting more exhausted by the second.

"We cannot hold our position any more! The fliers will have to carry us somehow, or we shall all die!" Perdita yelled.

"Well Ripred, how about covering the fliers' backs while everyone gets on?" Gregor spun up to the rat. By now, even his rager side was losing its endurance and Gregor felt like he would drop any moment. His vision was fading and his head was spinning faster by the second. Gregor almost threw up right there and then, but instead, he called out for the fliers with a last desperate burst of strength and started to fight again.

"Fliers, help us escape!" Aurora, Nike, and Andromeda flew immediately to help. Gregor and Ripred slowly formed a defensive parameter around the bats.

"This won't last forever you know, I'm getting older by the second." Ripred snarled at everyone. Slowly, Ares joined with the bats, panting hard.

"I could…carry…some people…as well." Ares puffed out.

"No, you are in a very bad state, you cannot possibly think that you can carry anybody. It was a miracle that you had even carried the Overlander down here at all." Howard said, mounting Nike.

"I could…carry some…of the… little ones perhaps." Ares was recovering his breath. Howard finally relented, Gregor was a good bit heavier than Boots or Hazard. If Ares managed to carry him, then he could carry a smaller child. "Fine, as you wish," Howard replied with a sigh. "But if you need a break, please tell me."

Gregor muscles were burning, he was finally relieved when everybody mounted the bats. He gave up his position and retired to sleep on Aurora. Everybody was extremely tired, and Howard continued to work as a medic.

Burning, inflamed scars, bruised body, broken bones, scabs, and some swollen cuts filled Gregor's dream. Every inch of his body was in pain, even merciful sleep could not stop the agonizing torture.

"Gregor, Gregor, wake up!" Howard's voice whispered through the darkness. Gregor's eyes flew open and he almost fainted immediately in pain.

"It will be fine, just resist the pain and please do not fall asleep. You have to be awake for this operation, but don't worry as I have already administered a dose of painkiller on you." Howard quietly said, sweating profusely through the whole time. He looked horribly exhausted. Suddenly pain overloaded Gregor and he let out a gasp that he regretted. Every movement of his body was followed by sharp pain, almost as sharp as the Aor. It was apparent that the painkiller was not enough.

"I only could give you a small dose of it or else you would fall asleep very fast," Howard said, noticing his gasp of pain. "Now that we are done with that part of the operation, you have no need to be worried for that much pain again. I had just tried to open a part of your arm to take out a piece of cutter pincer. Please accept my apologies for the pain I am causing. Gregor made no effort to move and just kept on lying on top of Aurora. He reasoned that the more unnecessary movement he made, the higher the chance was that he would get hurt. After what seemed like hours, Howard grinned and patted him gently.

"I have finished! Now there should less pain, am I not right?" Gregor trusted Howard, so he moved his arm expecting the pain to slightly lessen, but now there was only enough pain there to make him acknowledge it "Thanks Howard! I feel much better now. Wow, I can actually move now thanks to you!" Gregor exclaimed enthusiastically. Howard waved away modestly and moved on to Luxa. Gregor was glad that she looked way better than the state he was in.

"Well good news Overlander, the Queen seems to be in a finer shape than you are," Howard said, smiling yet again. "All I need to do for her is to stitch a bit here and wrap a bandage around some other places and I'm finished. I have given her some painkiller so it will be some time before she wakes up." Gregor's mood lifted a bit. He was really happy that Luxa was okay.

"Hey Aurora?" He asked.

"What is it Overlander?" She purred.

"How far away are we from the cutters, and are we close to the Uncharted Lands?"

"I do not think they will be following us through the Labyrinth so my guess is that they will give up. As for being close to the Uncharted Lands, you may have to ask Mareth as he has the map." Gregor thanked her and then remembered about the Argo.

"We abandoned the Argo! How will we get back?"

"Do not worry about that. A few gnawers who live around will guard it." Gregor relaxed. He looked down and saw barren wasteland.

"So we are now in the Uncharted Lands?"

"Yes, but we are in the explored section, the Dead Lands. We still have some time before we reach the unexplored section."

"Oh, that makes sense." Gregor muttered. There really wasn't much else to do, so he started practicing his echolocation. _Click!_ He saw a flat plain. _Click! _Barren lands. This was getting dull. Gregor gave it one more try: _Click!_ He saw wasteland, and perhaps a large rock that had the shape of a gnawer. Gregor's heart started to pound faster. A gnawer in the wasteland, what would a gnawer be doing in the wasteland?

"Um Aurora? I think I see a gnawer below us." Gregor said.

"Yes, I know that there is a gnawer below us, but I had thought that the gnawer was a rock." Aurora replied.

"Well could you take me down to check? It'll be really fast." Aurora dove down quickly and Gregor got a good view of the gnawer and gasped aloud. She was sleeping, but what shocked Gregor wasn't that face. What shocked Gregor was the gnawer's identity.

Twitchtip.

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**Dun dun dun! Anyways, review! :D**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Twitchtip?" Gregor woke the gnawer up tentatively.  
"Gah!" Twitchtip woke and was immediately ready in her battle stance, "Stay back!"  
"Relax, it's only me, Gregor." Gregor reassured. He was overjoyed that Twitchtip was back. Of all of the gnawers, Twitchtip had to be Gregor's favorite because she actually tried to understand his feelings and helped defend Boots. Twitchtip understood the special place Boots had in his heart, much unlike the ever sarcastic Ripred.  
"Oh." was all Twitchtip could get out.  
"I thought you were dead, the rats said that you died in the pit."  
"I escaped and dragged a guard in. You don't think that I would die so easily, I'm a scent seer after all. "Gregor realized that he always had a suspicion, a sliver of doubt that Twitchtip had died so easily. She was almost as skilled as Ripred in fighting, years of isolation did that to someone.  
"Well now, isn't this a surprise reunion. I suppose you'll want to join in my place now, right?"

"Of course, but what are you guys doing in the Dead Land?" And that's when Gregor realized that Twitchtip had been isolated for another whole year **(AN: almost a whole year). **

"Wow there's like a lot of stuff that you have to catch up on." He mumbled, events flying through his head. Finding the starshade, Luxa's promise to the mice, fighting the Bane, and now he was trying to find the drinkers. Of course, there was also the problem of Stellovet and the ants.

"I figured so, spending even this much time in the Dead Lands could really make you lose contact with the everyone, those few years I've spent in the Dead Lands really made me ignorant of almost everything. Gregor felt that he could relate to that. Solovet had locked him in a dungeon with no light. The few days were horrible, he needed to know if Luxa was alive or not, if there was another battle. But there was nothing, just nothing. Isolation would probably be one of the worst punishments possible.

"Well…" Gregor started his account on the things that had happened. When he had finished his story, Twitchtip began hers: "So after you left me, I met up with the queen here and I'm not quite clear what happened because I was half delirious. I know that I tried to fight, but the other gnawers just took me away. I was thrown in the pit, and was kept there for a long time. I occasionally got food from them but mostly they were just bent on whether starving me or waiting until my teeth grew. Finally, I seized my chance with this inattentive guard and escaped. Of course, the only place to run is to the Dead Lands, so here I am." Twitchtip did a ratty shrug. At least it was better than before.

"You know, you're always welcome in Regalia, with the Alliance and all. You must have heard of the Alliance at least, maybe from the other rats?" Gregor hoped that Twitchtip was at least getting that information.

"Obviously, that piece of news spread everywhere. Yet, I can smell that the other gnawers still want me dead. Now there will always be rats in Regalia, I can't take that risk. Ripred and his group may be able to take me, but definitely not Regalia."

"Well this has been nice and all but do realize that we have a quest to attend to," Ripred said impatiently, crawling back and forth. "But one more thing Twitchtip, that is if you are to join and have my permission, as well as proof. Help us and come with us for a small part of the Uncharted Lands. We can leave you there to go back to my nest as long as you take a sniff for any alien smells, colors, shapes, or anything else suspicious." Gregor realized that Ripred had, yet again, bargained with Twitchtip for her skills in exchange for his protection. The rat really never let an advantage go, ever.

"Come on then, we do have a quest to attend to, hurry up!" Ripred exclaimed impatiently. Everybody went back on the bats except for Twitchtip.

"Oh you can ride with me and Lapblood." Ripred sighed.

"Andromeda would probably die of exhaustion after carrying us three with your fat body." He added under his breath.

Even though Twitchtip was very thin (drastically thin due to starvation and surviving in the Dead Lands) Andromeda still had some trouble carrying all three of the gnawers. Already, Gregor could see the strain as Andromeda forced herself forward, clearly she couldn't last forever. Two rats was her limit and even Twitchtip would exceed the limit, so Gregor called out to her.

"Andromeda, if you can't take them anymore, maybe Nike can take the extra weight of Twitchtip, well, you can take Twitchtip can you Nike?"

"Yes, I am sure that I can take Twitchtip." The flier purred in agreement. Andromeda flew towards Nike and Twitchtip crawled onto Andromeda. **(AN: I really do not know how this is physically possible in real life, but perhaps Twitchtip could crawl from one bat's wing to another. Anyways, let's pretend that this somewhat illogical operation has been performed without any abnormality. ;)) **

"Well that was settled quite well, very observant Overlander." Mareth said. "We are currently very close to the border of the Dead Lands. I suggest that we stop at the border and rest there, as we do not know what lies beyond. It might even be that we will not have a chance to rest further on." Looking at the map, Mareth pointed several locations out to everyone.

Temp, ever the one who predicts the danger, spoke his agreement.

"The human be right, he be, the human be right." Gregor could not agree more to the soldier's sensible suggestion. "Right, so are we stopping here now?" He asked. Just now, Gregor had realized he was starving, and he had never even noticed it through the discovery that Twitchtip was still alive.

"Yes now would be nice, and we do not want to go too far towards the border. There could always be someone or something that will be waiting to ambush us, and this way the fliers will be rested." Luxa said. Aurora slowly descended to the ground, and everyone tiredly got out, that is, except Boots. She had just woken from her nap and was chattering happily to Temp in rapid Crawler-English. Once, he forgot when, Gregor had actually tried to listen to their conversation of no avail. Pretty much all he heard was this: "Click click click so click click went bug click click click this click click click cookie click click click click click click click." And that went on for quite a while. It wasn't even close to Morse Code, and he didn't even get that. Lizzie would probably work it out, Gregor thought fondly.

"Wow she has changed since the Prophecy of Time, hasn't she. Lizzie hasn't stopped hyperventilating yet, but it has been way less frequent these days." It occurred to him that Ripred might have been responsible for that, but who knew?

"Gregor would you like a Sandwich?" Luxa said, handing him one. This time, the sandwich was much neater and organized, unlike her previous one when he first came to the Underland.

"Hey, you got better at making these!" Gregor said smiling at her. **(AN: LOL I JUST REALIZED WHAT I WROTE! HAHAHAHA GO MAKE ME A SANDWICH LUXA! XD) **Luxa smiled back, "This is only the second time I tried, Gregor." and they both laughed.

"Hazard, would you like one too?" Luxa ventured to ask him.

"Wow, Sandwich has a dish named after him too? What else is he famous for!" Luxa smiled at her little brother. "Hazard, this is an Overland dish. Although Gregor does not know the origins, he can assure you that it has nothing to do with our Sandwich." At this, Hazard's eyes lit up.

"Oh! Oh! I remember what it is! One time, during my fourth birthday, my mom took a trip to the Overland and brought down treats for me! There was one she called Hershey's, and she brought burgers, fries, and much more! I also remember ice cream and root beer! Among all these things, she also gave me a sandwich, although it was different, but not unlike, this sandwich. I prefer the burgers but the sandwich was very good. I wish she was still here around now…" Hazard said sadly. Luxa put her arms around him and closed her eyes. Gregor felt a twinge of sympathy for both of them, both their parents had died and now Hazard was the closest family member as well as adopted brother for Luxa. He left them alone and finished his sandwich. Gregor then went to help Howard pack up the supplies and leave them there to put on a bat.

"Thanks Gregor, I needed some help." Howard sighed tiredly.

"Get some rest, you look like you really need it man. I'll take first watch for you." Gregor reassured him that he was not tired and when everyone **(AN: Right, I forgot to mention that the shiners abandoned them, YET AGAIN. Sorry to leave that important piece of information out. I will update the chapter where they reach the maelstrom. Cheers! ****J) **went to their sleeping position, Gregor sat on his post. He didn't even need the light to watch because of his echolocation. This was sure to benefit some of the people as they were sleeping. Gregor was tired, but he promised himself that he would not nod off again like the time during the Prophecy of the Bane. So even if he had to pinch himself, which he did, Gregor forced himself not to fall asleep. He considered on waking Boots just to annoy himself, but that would just wake everybody else, so he was finally glad when his watch was over. Walking over to Mareth, Gregor shook him gently and whispered, "Your turn." And left to sleep.

_He was running, but he was tired. What was going on? All he could feel was some primeval terror that was forcing him to run. That feeling… it was pushing him beyond what his physical body can actually endure. His breath was horribly ragged, his sight was dimming. All he wanted to do was run, from something, but he didn't know what. And that was when he heard the first buzzing. It was faint at first, but the sound grew and grew until it was almost up to his ears. Terrified, Gregor kept on pushing himself knowing that he couldn't turn back or slow down, it would be the last thing he ever did. That's when something sharp pierced into his back. Strangely he almost didn't feel anything at all, but he was weakening and slowing down. His sight was dimming faster, the world was swimming around him…_

And Gregor's eyes flew open at that. He sat up, sweating and panting. His whole body was shivering uncontrollably as he recollected his nightmare. Gregor felt his back but nothing was there. He looked around and saw Howard walking towards him, clearly worried.

"What has happened Gregor? A nightmare perhaps, or do you sense something." He asked him. Gregor was happy to say that it was only a nightmare, "It's okay, though what exactly do you think a mosqui- I mean drinker is like?"

"I do not know exactly, for I have never encountered such a strange idea of a creature like that. But I can guess that it will be very deadly, and we will have to be on our best of guards and watch out for each other." Howard said carefully. Gregor suddenly noticed Twitchtip's nose moving very fast, though she seemed to be asleep. "Howard, I think Twitchtip may have smelled something." He motioned at her nose. Howard nodded and shook Twitchtip awake.

"Mmmm…what?" Twitchtip murmured sleepily. "I smell something weird. Not the repulsive smell of the humans or the food, something…odd. A little like cutter but not cutter." Howard looked alarmed and Gregor felt a shiver up his spine.

"Hmm, a bit of unidentifiable blood too, really I don't know the origins." Twitchtip said alarmed. "Could this be what you are telling me about? A…what do you call it…drinker?" Howard answered her with a dark face, "Perhaps, it is, we do not know."

And in the distance, Gregor heard a shrill buzzing noise that set his nerves on the edge.

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**CLIFFHANGER :D! YAY I FINISHED THE CHAPTER!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Yma3591: CHAPTER 10 DONE SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!**

**Special thanks to: Everyone! I love you guys all! I cannot believe you still supported me after I supposedly abandoned this project. In truth, I kinda did because I started writing another fic and got carried away, but I'll multitask!**

**I may have a changed writing style after a year or so...WARNING!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Underland Chronicles, capishe? Thanks all my ever so dedicated reviewers! :D**

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Chapter 10

"What was that?" Gregor asked, aghast at what he had heard. The noise was whiny, and had the effect of slowly drilling into your nerves. In that way, it was not only creepy but had a maddening effect on you.  
"I presume that this is our so called drinker." Lapblood explained. "Never have I heard of this dreadful noise, not even in the jungle. Surely there can only be one possible explanation, right Ripred?"  
"I will have to agree with you, but I really wish that you're wrong." Ripred added. Gregor frowned, no matter how annoying the rager got, he never seemed this subdued angry, maybe, but never like this. Was this possibly what happens when Ripred gets scared? Gregor felt a hand on his arm and saw Luxa's frown. Her eyes were a deep, yet sad shade of purple and they both nodded at what was to come. He put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her lightly and comfortingly, and Luxa smiled sadly. Gregor could not help but feel his heart plunge down with her, both of them might not make it out of the quest alive.  
"It will be okay, promise me that you won't…" And the words got caught at his throat there. It was too painful to get out, Gregor could not even think of Luxa dying, not when he had that experience when she was in the Firelands.  
"No, you will promise me that, you cannot die. Please do this for me." Luxa whispered fiercely, she was squeezing him tightly now.  
"Alright, I won't but if you are in danger…" Gregor trailed off and they both nodded, and Luxa buried her head in his chest.

"Okay we should go around now. Twitchtip, you have done your part and can leave-"  
"Certainly not, I will stay with you, just in case." Twitchtip said, her teeth showing. "I might be able to help you on the way." Gregor saw Ripred smirk, and he knew that Ripred had planned for this to happen.

"Man, if he didn't have such a good cause as the leader of the rats, I wouldn't want to see what would happen after Ripred manipulates all the rats to attack Regalia again, I don't think that the humans would win. I'm glad we have him on our side, not the other way around." Gregor thought, a bit awed by Ripred's amazing negotiating skills.  
"Is everybody ready? I have finished packing the supplies with help from the Overlander. Which flier is willing to carry some of the supplies? Howard announced, pointing at the supplies. The fliers looked among themselves, they all had a lot of passengers and it would be too much of a strain to carry so much. Finally, Ares came up and volunteered.

"I will." Ares purred, flapping his wings to demonstrate that he could carry it.  
"But you do not have the sufficient strength yet!" Howard exclaimed.  
"I heal fast, due to the properties of my father, realize this Howard!" Ares said to him. Howard looked embarrassed, and lost his stubborn edge.  
"Yes, that will be fine. You can carry the supplies. Accept my apology at my forgetfulness." He mumbled to Ares. Gregor saw Ares shake slightly and stifled his laugh, he knew Ares always had a humorous edge in him, but people didn't see it. Gregor mounted Aurora with Luxa. He sat with his back against her and she leaned back onto his shoulders with a sigh of pleasure, her neck was cool against his. Gregor relaxed his body knowing that it would be the last time he could do it before they reached the Uncharted Lands. They sat that way for a while in silence until Mareth announce that they had reached the borders.

"Careful, we must approach with caution as we do not know what lies ahead from here." Mareth instructed the bats to land. "Currently, we are on the border between the Dead Lands and the Uncharted, good luck to everyone and let us all hope that Sandwich had an accurate account in his journal." And with that, Mareth grimly stepped in the Uncharted. Everyone else followed slowly, the bats were gliding along above their heads with Boots and Hazard.

"Mareth, why do we need to travel by land?" Gregor asked the soldier. "We need to have a good, detailed grasp of this land and not of the brief view we would normally obtain from flying." Mareth explained. Gregor nodded and continued forward. While they were walking, he noticed that Mareth was making notes and sketches. He realized that Mareth was writing a detailed account on their starting exploration of the Uncharted Lands. The sketches were of a map he made.

"So far so good, I guess." Gregor said. He took position at the sides while Luxa took position in the back. Ripred was in front and Mareth was right behind him. The others formed a protective circle around the group and in the center were Temp and Howard.

"I think that we have to go ahead some more to reach some of the drinkers." Perdita said, reading the log. "Apparently, Drinkers live close to the border so we do have our work cut out for us." She let out a dry laugh, and continued in silence. Gregor marched on forward, worrying incessantly about Luxa, if she ever was ambushed by a mosquito. He kept on turning back to check on Luxa, and found that she was doing the same. Luxa's gaze met his and he smiled reassuringly at her, hoping that nothing bad could ever happen to her.

"If only I could spend some more time with her without all this war and quests going on." Gregor thought sadly, but as Queen, Luxa have the time back in Regalia. She just simply had too many duties, as was with him.

About an hour later, Gregor felt a slight drilling in his head. He tensed up and shivered, the feeling was not unlike listening to a dirge, and the primeval terrors of nightmares.  
"Ahhhh, it has started, the buzzing." Ripred said. "Perhaps you might not hear it clearly, but you do get a very unpleasant feeling, and that will be the Drinker's buzzing. Sandwich also felt that when he was nearing the Drinkers, he thought it might be the way Drinkers communicate. Gregor immediately felt sorry for Hazard, as he would have to learn how to speak in buzzing. Noticing that everyone was slowing their pace, he did the same and proceeded cautiously.

"Not to disturb you guys or anything, but we are very close to the drinkers," Twitchtip said, nose twitching fast. Ripred immediately started rippling, and Gregor saw the ugliest and most hideous sight he had ever seen. A drinker.

"DRINKER!" Mareth shouted, just as Ripred's tail whistled through the air, casually smacking the drinker down. Perdita ran up and drew her dagger and stabbed the mosquito in the center of its body. The drinker twitched convulsively, leaked some purple blood and died.  
"Happy that's over, eh?" Ripred said without even the slightest hint of emotion. Gregor could not agree more heartily.  
"How come there was only one drinker?" He asked, it was curious how anyone would travel alone."  
"Overlander, every creature or human down here has to have somebody traveling alone. Scouts are the perfect example as the almost always travel alone or in pairs, the desperate would scavenge alone to prevent sharing. There are certain benefits to being alone as there is a lesser chance that you will be spotted, or as to prevent suspicion." Perdita lectured him. Gregor nodded, understanding only about three quarters of what she had just said.  
"Right, so Twitchtip are there more around us?" Howard took a brief head count. Satisfied, he nodded his head. No members of the group were to be lost.  
"Not that I could sense, but I am sure there are much more ahead." Twitchtip replied.  
The motley group pursued further on into the dark unknown. Gregor felt the sickening sweet stench of blood ooze through his nostrils. To his side, he saw empty carcasses of unidentifiable creatures. The shells were all shriveled up and Gregor realized that it was the work of the mosquitoes. Carefully, he stepped over the husks, not willing to step on them. After a few minutes of walking, everybody reached a large river.  
"I suppose this is where we stop then?" Mareth asked, staring down at the murky waters.  
"I think we fliers still have enough strength in us for a few more flights." Nike purred. Gratefully, Gregor mounted Aurora with Luxa while Howard carried Boots on top of Ares. Ripred hung from Aurora's claws which elicited a laugh from Gregor before his glare stifled it. Lapblood hung likewise from Nike, while the rest of the group rested on her. The bats flew slowly across the river, hampered greatly by the burden of their riders. After a couple of minutes, the bats descended onto ground. As they descended, Gregor couldn't stop from gasping out loud at the sight before him.

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**Amazing, the support and reviews I got are the only reason I finish this chapter and continue this fic again! Enjoy!**


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